418 DOGS : THEIR MANAGEMENT. 



Where the dog is old, a cure invariably results ; but 

 it takes time to bring it about. Perhaps months may be 

 thus consumed ; and the practitioner will require a good- 

 ly stock of patience before he undertake the treatment 

 of such a case. The proprietor, therefore, must be en- 

 dowed with some esteem for the animal, before he can be 

 induced to pay for all the physic it will consume. I can- 

 not account for so virulent a form of skin disease affect- 

 ing pups ; but certain it is, that they have scarcely left 

 the dam before its signs are to be detected. Probably 

 it may be owing to their being weaned upon garbage or 

 putrid flesh. Certain it is that the cure of creatures at 

 this tender age greatly depends upon their previous 

 keep. If it has for any known length of time been good 

 and generous, the practitioner may undertake the case 

 without fear ; but if, on the other hand, the pup, though 

 of a valuable breed, had lived in filth, never enjoyed ex- 

 ercise, and been badly nurtured, no entreaties should 

 tempt the veterinarian to promise a restoration. It will 

 certainly perish, not perhaps of the skin disease, but of 

 debility. 



Here I may for the present conclude my imperfect 

 account of mange ; again insisting that in every form of 

 the disorder the food is to consist of vegetables, and 

 every kind of flesh is to be scrupulously withheld, unless 

 to pups in a very weakly condition. Elaine and Youatt 

 speak of alteratives as necessary towards the perfection 

 of a cure ; but as I am simply here recording my expe- 

 rience, all I can say is, I have not found them to be re- 



